JOHN DUNCAN FERGUSSON, R.B.A. | The Tricorn Hat

Alexander Meddowes Fine Art, Edinburgh

The sheet appears to be in good condition with some very soft creasing in the upper and lower left-hand corners. There is some time staining to the sheet and some specks of dirt and charcoal smudges. There are a few very faint foxing marks. Held in a simple drawing frame and cream mount under glass. Unexamined out of frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This lively sketch, drawn circa 1916 in London, relates to Fergusson's portrait of the Irish dancer Kathleen Dillon, Rose Rhythm (private collection). Dillon studied at the dance studio founded by Fergusson's partner Margaret Morris and she posed several times for Fergusson. He described the creation of Rose Rhythm; 'When I came back from London at the beginning of the First World War in 1914, I met one of Margaret Morris's best pupils, Kathleen Dillon, a very good-looking, charming and intelligent girl... one day she arrived in a remarkable hat... It was just like a rose, going from the centre convolution and continuing the Rhythm' idea developed in Paris and still with me. Looking at Kathleen I soon saw that the hat was not merely a hat, but a continuation of the girl's character, her mouth, her nostril, the curl of her hair - the whole character... at last this was my statement of a thing thoroughly Celtic.' (Fergusson quoted in M. Morris, The Art of J.D. Fergusson, 1974, p.103)